AI Era Demands Human Judgment, Adaptability and Execution for Project Success: PMI
Bengaluru, 4 Oct. 2026: Artificial intelligence may be transforming jobs, business models and project delivery, but organisations will need to combine technology with human judgment, leadership and execution to translate AI adoption into measurable results, industry leaders said at the 18th Project Management South Asia Conference (PMSAC) 2026 in Bengaluru.
Organised by the Project Management Institute (PMI) at Bhartiya City, the conference, themed “MORE, Together: Future-Ready in the Age of AI”, brought together more than 850 delegates and over 20 speakers from project management, industry, technology and policymaking across South Asia.
AI Adoption Must Translate Into Results
Discussions focused on how AI is changing the way projects and their success are viewed. Speakers stressed that technology alone would not determine outcomes and highlighted strategic thinking, human judgment, adaptability, collaboration and execution as increasingly important capabilities. They also called on organisations to continually reassess how projects are planned, implemented and measured.
Amit Goyal, Managing Director, South Asia, PMI, said India’s technology ecosystem and its ability to adopt and scale emerging technologies placed it well for the next phase of growth. However, he pointed to McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI report, which said only 39% of organisations reported enterprise-level EBIT impact from AI.
“Project success in the AI era will increasingly depend on how effectively organisations combine technology with human judgment, leadership and execution,” Goyal said. He said PMSAC26 provided a platform to examine how AI ambitions could be converted into meaningful outcomes and added that PMI would continue to promote learning and collaboration to shape the future of the project profession.
Leadership and Workforce in Focus
The conference featured Ajit Chauhan of Amity University Online, Ravi Kumar Dikshit of Kyndryl, Dr. Geetha Manjunath of NIRAMAI Health Analytix, John Dawber of Novo Nordisk, Usha Srikanth of IBM Consulting and Sumit Taneja of EXL. Their sessions examined transformation at scale, organisational readiness for AI, human impact and leadership choices in a rapidly changing technological environment.
Author and columnist Chetan Bhagat delivered a keynote on navigating change, leadership and the evolving demands of professional life.
Speakers from technology, EdTech, consulting and enterprise solutions also discussed rising project complexity and changing workforce expectations. The conference underlined judgment, collaboration, adaptability and the ability to turn strategy into execution as essential skills for future-ready professionals, while reaffirming PMI’s focus on advancing project management practices across South Asia.
